Good Cheer for the New Year
A sermon
(No. 728)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, JANUARY 6, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning
of the year even unto the end of the year."- Deuteronomy 11:12.
THE Israelites had sojourned for a while in Egypt, a land which only
produces food for its inhabitants by the laborious process of
irrigating its fields. They had mingled with the sons of Ham as they
watched with anxious eyes the swelling of the river Nile. They had
shared in the incessant labors by which the waters were preserved in
reservoirs, and afterwards eked out by slow degrees to nourish the
various crops. Moses tells them in this chapter that the land of
Palestine was not at all like Egypt–it was a land which did not so
much depend on the labor of the inhabitants as upon the good will of
the God of Heaven. He calls it a land of hills and valleys, a land of
springs and rivers, a land dependent not upon the rivers of earth but
upon the rain of Heaven, and he styles it in conclusion, "A land which
the Lord your God cares for: the eyes of the Lord your God are always
upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year."
Observe here a type of the condition of the natural and the spiritual
man! In this world in temporals and in all other respects the merely
carnal man has to be his own providence, and to look to himself for all
his needs. Hence his cares are always many, and frequently they become
so heavy that they drive him to desperation. He lives a life of care,
anxiety, sorrow, fretfulness and disappointment. He dwells in Egypt,
and he knows that there is no joy, or comfort, or provision if it does
not wear out his soul in winning it. But the spiritual man dwells in
another country! His faith makes him a citizen of another land. It is
true he endures the same toils, and experiences the same afflictions as
the ungodly, but they deal with him after another fashion, for they
come as a gracious Father's appointments and they go at the bidding of
loving wisdom.
By faith the godly man casts his care upon God who cares for him, and
he walks without taking care because he knows himself to be the child
of Heaven's loving kindness for whom all things work together for good.
God is his great Guardian and Friend, and all his concerns are safe in
the hands of infinite Grace! Even in the year of drought the Believer
dwells in green pastures and lies down beside the still waters. But as
for the ungodly, he abides in the wilderness and hears the mutterings
of that curse, "Cursed is he that trusts in man, and makes flesh his
arm. He shall be like the heath in the desert. He shall not see when
good comes."
Do you question my assertion, that Canaan is a fitting type of the
present condition of the Christian? We have frequently insisted upon it
that it is a far better type of the militant Believer here than of the
glorified saint in the New Jerusalem. Canaan is sometimes used by us in
our hymns as the picture of Heaven, but it is scarcely so. A moment's
reflection will show that it is far more distinctly the picture of the
present state of every Believer. While we are under conviction of sin
we are like Israel in the wilderness–we have no rest for the sole of
our feet–but when we put our trust in Jesus we do, as it were, cross
the river and leave the wilderness behind.
"We that have believed do enter into rest," for, "there remains a rest
for the people of God." Believers have entered into the finished
salvation which is provided for us in Christ Jesus! The blessings of
our inheritance are in a great measure already in our possession. The
state of salvation is no longer a land of promise, but it is a land
possessed and enjoyed. We have peace with God! We are even now
justified by faith. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." Covenant
blessings are at this moment actually ours, just as the portions of the
land of Canaan became actually in the possession of the various tribes.
It is true there is an enemy in Canaan, an enemy to be driven
out–indwelling sin which is entrenched in our hearts as in walled
cities, and fleshly lusts which are like the chariots of iron with
which we have to do war–but the land is
ours! We have the covenanted heritage at this moment in our possession,
and the foes who would rob us of it shall, by the sword of faith, and
the weapon of all prayer, be utterly rooted out! The Christian, like
Israel in Canaan, is not under the government of Moses now. He has done
with Moses once and for all. Moses was magnified and made honorable as
he climbed to the top of the hill and with a kiss from God's lips was
carried into Heaven. Even so the Law has been magnified and made
honorable in the person of Christ, but has ceased to reign over the
Believer.
And as Joshua was the leader of the Israelites when they came into
Canaan, so is Jesus our Leader now. He it is who leads us on from
victory to victory, and He will not sheathe His sword till He has taken
unto Himself and given unto us, His followers, the full possession of
all the holiness and happiness which covenant engagements have secured
for us. For these and many other reasons it is clear that the children
of Israel in Canaan were typically in the same condition as we are now
who, having believed in Jesus, have our citizenship in Heaven!
Beloved, those of you who are in such a state will relish the text. It
is to such persons that the text is addressed. The eyes of the Lord,
your God, are always upon you, O Believer, from the beginning of the
year even to the end of the year! You who trust in Jesus are under the
guidance of the great Joshua! You are fighting sin. You have obtained
salvation! You have left the wilderness of conviction and fear behind
you. You have come into the Canaan of faith, and now the eyes of God
are upon you and upon your state from the opening of the year to its
close.
May the Holy Spirit bless us, and we shall, first, take the text as we
find it. Secondly, we shall turn the text over. Thirdly, we shall blot
the text out, and then, fourthly, we shall distil practical lessons
from the text.
I. First, we will consider THE TEXT AS WE FIND IT. The first word that
glitters before us, like a jewel in a crown, is that word "eyes." "The
eyes of the Lord." What is meant here? Surely not mere Omniscience. In
that sense the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil
and the good. God sees Hagar as well as Sarah, and beholds Judas when
he gives the traitorous kiss quite as surely as He beholds the holy
woman when she washes the feet of the Savior with her tears.
No, there is love in the text to sweeten observation. "The Lord knows
the righteous" with a knowledge which is over and above that of
Omniscience. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, not merely to
see them, but to view them with complacency and delight. He does not
merely observe them, but observes them with affectionate care and
interest. The meaning of the text, then, is first, that God's love is
always upon His people. Oh, Christians, think of this (it is rather to
be thought of than to be spoken of), that God loves us! The big heart
of Deity is set upon us poor, insignificant, undeserving, worthless
beings! God loves us, loves us forever, never thinks of us without
loving thoughts, never regards us, nor speaks of us, nor acts towards
us except in love!
God is love in a certain sense towards all, for He is full of
benevolence to all His creatures. Love is, indeed, His Essence–but
there is a depth unfathomable when that word is used in reference to
His elect ones who are the objects of distinguishing Grace, redeemed by
blood, enfranchised by power, adopted by condescension, and preserved
by faithfulness. Beloved, do not ask me to speak of this love, but
implore God the Holy Spirit to speak of it to your inmost souls! The
loving eyes of God are always upon you–the poorest and most obscure of
His people–from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.
The expression of the text teaches us that the Lord takes a personal
interest in us. It is not here said that God loves us, and therefore
sends an angel to protect and watch over us–the Lord does it Himself!
The eyes that observe us are God's own eyes! The Guardian under whose
protection we are placed is God Himself! Some mothers put out their
children to nurse, but God never does–all his babes hang upon His own
breast–and are carried in His own arms. It is little that we could do
if we had to perform everything personally and therefore most of the
things are done by proxy. The captain, when the vessel is to be steered
across the deep, must have his hour of sleep, and then the second in
command, or some other, must manage the vessel.
But you will observe that in times of emergency the captain is called
up and takes upon himself personal responsibility. See him as he
himself anxiously heaves the lead, and stands at the helm or at the
look-out, for he can trust no one else in perilous moments. It seems
from the text that it is always a time of emergency with God's people,
for their great Lord always exercises a personal care over them. He has
never said to His angels, "I will dispense with My own watching and you
shall guard My saints." But while He gives them charge concerning His
people, yet He Himself is
personally their Keeper and their Shield. "I the Lord do keep it, I
will water it every moment; lest any hurt it I will keep it night and
day."
You have sometimes, when you have been very sick, sent for a physician.
And it may be that he has been engaged somewhere else, but he has an
assistant who probably is quite as skillful as himself, yet, as soon as
that assistant comes, such has been your confidence in the man himself
for whom you have sent that you feel quite disappointed. You wanted to
see the man whom you had tried in days gone by. There is no fear of our
being put off with any substitute for our God!
Oh, Beloved, when I think of the text, I feel of the same mind as Moses
when God said, "I will send My angel before you." "No," Moses in
effect, said, "that will not suffice: if Your Presence go not with us,
carry us not up from here." My Lord, I cannot be put off with Gabriel
or Michael! I cannot be content with the brightest of the seraphs who
stand before Your Throne! It is Your Presence I want, and blessed be
Your name, it is Your Presence which the text promises to give! The
anxious mother is glad to have a careful nurse upon whom she may rely,
but in the crisis of the disease, when the little one's life trembles
in the balance, she says, "Nurse, I must sit up myself with the child
tonight." And though it is the third, perhaps the fourth night, since
the mother has had sleep, yet her eyes will not close so long as the
particular point of danger is still in view.
See, my Brethren, see the loving tenderness of our gracious God! Never,
never, never, does He delegate to others, however good or kind, or to
any secondary agents, however active or powerful–the care of His
people! His own eyes, without a substitute, must watch over us!
Further, the text reminds us of the unwearied power of God towards His
people. What? Can His eyes always be upon us? This were not possible if
He were not God. To be always upon one object, man can scarcely do
that! And where there are ten thousand times ten thousand objects, how
can the same eyes always be upon every one among so many! I know what
Unbelief has said to you. He has whispered, "He brings forth the stars,
He calls them all by their names, how, then, can He notice so mean an
insect as you are?" Then we have said, "My way is passed over from God:
God has forgotten me. My God has forsaken me!"
But here comes the text. Not only has He not forgotten you, but He has
never once taken His eyes off you! And though you are one among so
many, yet He has observed you as narrowly, as carefully, as tenderly as
if there were not another child in the Divine family–nor another one
whose prayers were to be heard, or whose cares were to be relieved.
What would you think of yourself if you knew that you were the only
saved soul in the world, the only elect one of God, the only one
purchased on the bloody tree? Why you would feel, "How God must care
for me! How He must watch over me! Surely He will never take His eyes
off such a special favorite."
And it is the same with you, Beloved, though the family is so large, as
if you were the only one! The eyes of the Lord never grow weary–He
neither slumbers nor sleeps–both by day and night He observes each one
of His people. If you put these things together–intense affection,
personal interest, unwearied power–and then if you remember that all
this time God's heart is actuated by unchanging purposes of Divine
Grace towards you, surely there will be enough to make you lose
yourself in wonder, love, and praise!
You have sinned in the past of your history, but your sin has never
made Him love you less because He never looked upon you as you are
personally considered, naked, and abstract in yourself. He saw you and
loved you in Christ in the eternal purpose even when you were dead in
trespasses and sins! He has seen you in Christ ever since, and has
never ceased to love you. It is true you have been very faulty (what
tears this ought to cost you!) but as He never loved you for your good
works, He has never cast you away for your bad works, but has beheld
you as washed in the atoning blood of Jesus till you are whiter than
snow–He has seen you clothed in the perfect righteousness of your
Surety–and therefore looked upon you and regarded you as though you
were without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Grace has always set you before the Lord's eyes as being in His dear
Son all fair and lovely–a pleasing prospect for Him to look upon. He
has gazed upon you, Beloved, but never with anger. He has looked upon
you when your infirmities, no, your willful wickedness had made you
hate yourself, and yet, though He has seen you in this doleful state,
He had such a regard for your relationship to Christ that you have
still been accepted in the Beloved!
I wish it were in the power of mortal speech to convey the full glory
of that thought, but it is not. You must eat this morsel alone. You
must take it like a wafer made with honey and put it under your tongue
and suck the essential
sweetness out of it. The eyes of God, my God, are always upon His
chosen, as eyes of affection, delight, complacency, unwearied power,
immutable wisdom, and unchanging love.
The next word that seems to flash and sparkle in the text is that word
"ALWAYS." "The eyes of the Lord are always upon it." And it is added,
as if that word were not enough for such dull ears as ours, "from the
beginning of the year even to the end of the year." This is so plain
and pointed that we may not imagine that any one single day, or hour of
the day, or minute of the hour we are removed from the eyes or the
heart of God! I tried to discover the other day what time there was in
one's life when one could best afford to be without God. Perhaps
imagination suggests the time of prosperity, when business prospers,
wealth is growing, and the mind is happy.
Ah, Beloved, to be without our God then, why it would be like the
marriage feast without the bridegroom! It would be the day of delight
and no delight, a sea and no water in it, day and no light. What? All
these mercies and no God? Then there is only so much shell and no
kernel, so much shadow and no substance. In the midst of such joys as
earth can give in the absence of the Lord the soul can hear Satanic
laughter, for Satan laughs at the soul because it has tried to make the
world its rest and is sure to be deceived. Do without God in
prosperity, Beloved? We cannot, for then we should grow worldly, proud,
careless, and deep damnation would be our lot.
The Christian in prosperity is like a man standing on a pinnacle–he
must then be Divinely upheld or his fall will be terrible! If you can
do without God at all, it certainly is not when you are standing on the
pinnacle! What, then? Could we do without Him in adversity? Ask the
heart that is breaking! Ask the tortured spirit that has been deserted
by its friend! Ask the child of poverty who has not where to lay his
head! Ask the daughter of sickness, tossing by night and day on that
uneasy bed, "Could you do without your God?" And the very thought
causes wailing and gnashing of teeth!
With God pain becomes pleasure, and dying beds are elevated into
thrones, but without God–ah, what could we do? Well then, is there no
period? Cannot the young Christian, full of freshness and vigor, elated
with the novelty of piety, do without his God? Ah, poor puny thing, how
can the lamb do without the shepherd to carry it in his arms? Cannot
the man in middle life then, whose virtues have been confirmed, do
without his God? He tells you that it is the day of battle with him,
and that the darts fly so thick in business, nowadays, that the burdens
of life are so heavy in this age that without God a man in middle life
is like a naked man in the midst of a thicket of briars and thorns–he
cannot hope to make his way.
Ask yon grey beard with all the experience of seventy years whether at
least he has not attained to an independence of Divine Grace, and he
will say to you that as the weakness and infirmity of the body press
upon him it is his joy that his inner man is renewed day by day–but
take away God, who is the spring of that renewal–and old age would be
utter wretchedness. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, there is not a moment in
any one day that you or I have ever lived that we could have afforded
to dispense with the help of God! When we have thought ourselves
strong, alas, we have been fools enough to think so–in five minutes we
have done that which has cost us rivers of tears to undo! In an
unguarded moment we have spoken a word which we could not recall, but
which we would have recalled if we should have had to bite our tongues
in halves to have had it unsaid.
We have thought a thought when God has left us which has gone whizzing
through our souls like a hellish thunderbolt making a fiery path along
the spirit. We may well wonder how it is that the evil thought did not
become a terrible act as it would have done if God, whom we had
forgotten, had forgotten us! We need to set the Lord always before us.
Let us then, when we wake in the morning, take this promise with us and
say, Lord, You have said You will always be with us–then leave us not
till the dews of evening fall and we return to our couch. Leave us not
even when we are there, lest in the night, temptation should be
whispered in our ears and we should wake to defile our mind with
unholiness. Leave us never, O our God, but always be our very present
help!
Last year was, perhaps, the most gloomy of our lives. All the newspaper
summaries of 1866 are like the prophetic roll which was written within
and without with lamentations. The year has gone, and everybody is glad
to think that we have entered upon a new one–yet, who knows but what
1867 may be worse? Who can tell? Well, Brothers and Sisters, let it be
what God chooses it shall be. Let it be what He appoints, for there is
this comfort in the assurance that not a moment from this Sunday night
on to December 31st , 1867, shall be without the tender care of Heaven.
Not even for a second will the Lord remove His eyes from any of His
people! Here is good cheer for us! We will march boldly into this
wilderness, for the pillar of fire and cloud will never leave us! The
manna will never cease to drop, and the Rock that followed us will
never cease to flow with living streams. Onward, onward, let us go,
joyously confident in our God!
The next word that springs from the text is that great word JEHOVAH. It
is a pity that our translators did not give us the names of God as they
found them in the original. The word LORD in capitals is well enough,
but that grand and glorious name of "Jehovah" should have been
retained. In this case we read, "the eyes of Jehovah are always upon
it." He who surveys us with love and care is none other than the one
and indivisible God, so that we may conclude, if we have His eyes to
view us, we have His heart to love us!
And if we have His heart, we have His wings to cover us. We have His
hands to bear us up. We have the everlasting arms to be underneath us.
We have all the attributes of Deity at our command. Oh, Christian, when
God says that He always looks at you, He means this–that He is always
yours! There is nothing which is necessary for you which He will refuse
to do! There is no wisdom stored up in Him which He will not use for
you. There is no one attribute of all that great mass of splendor which
makes up the Deity which shall be withheld from you in any measure. All
that God is shall be yours. He shall be your God forever and ever! He
will give you Grace and glory, and be your guide even unto death.
Perhaps the sweetest word of the text is that next one–the eyes of
Jehovah "YOUR GOD." Ah, there is a blessed secret! Why? Ours in
Covenant! Our God, for He chose us to be His portion, and by His Grace
He has made us choose Him to be our portion. We are His and He is
ours–
"So I my best Beloved's am, So He is mine."
"Your God." Blessed be the Lord, we have learned to view Him not as
another man's God but as our God! Christian, can you claim a property
in God this day? Has your hand, by faith, grasped Him? Has your heart,
by love, twisted its tendrils round Him? Do you feel Him to be the
greatest possession that you have–that all creatures are but a dream,
an empty show–but that God is your substantial treasure, your All in
All?
Oh, then, it is not an absolute God whose eyes are upon you, but God in
Covenant relationship regards you. "Your God." What a word is this! He
who is watching me is my Shepherd. He who cares for me is my
Father–not my God, alone, by way of power–but my Father by way of
relationship! He is One who, though He is so great that the Heaven of
heavens cannot contain Him, yet deigned to visit this poor earth robed
in mortal flesh that He might become like we, and He is now our
God–the God of His people by near and dear relationship! In ties of
blood Jesus is with sinners one, our Husband, our Head, our All in All!
And we are His fullness, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.
Thus the eyes of God, as the Covenant God of Israel, are upon His
people from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. I must
now leave the text to talk to you alone by itself. Much more may be
said, but better unsaid by me, if you let the text say it to you. Talk
to the text, I pray you–let it journey with you till you can say of it
as the disciples said of Christ, "Did not our hearts burn within us
while He talked with us by the way?"
II. We are now to TURN THE TEXT OVER, that is to say, we will misread
it, yet read it rightly. Suppose the text were to run thus–"The eyes
of the Lord's people are always upon Him from the beginning of the year
to the end of the year"? Dear Friends, we like the text as it stands,
but I do not believe we shall ever comprehend the fullness of it unless
we receive it as I have now altered it, for we only understand God's
sight of us when we get a sight of Him. God, unknown to us, is our
Protector, but He is not such a Protector that we can comfortably
repose upon Him.
We mast discern Him by the eyes of faith, or else the mercy, though
given by God, is not spiritually enjoyed in our hearts. Beloved, if God
looks at us, how much more ought we to look at Him? When God sees us
what does He see? Nothing–I was going to say–nothing, if He looks at
us in ourselves. We are but that which is unworthy to be looked at.
Now, on the contrary, when we look at Him what do we see? Oh such a
sight, that I wonder not that Moses said, "I beseech You, show me Your
Glory."
What a vision will it be! Will it not be Heaven's own vision to see
God? Is not it the peculiar prerogative of the pure in heart that they
shall see God? And yet, I cannot understand it! Some of us have had the
right to see God for years, and we have occasionally seen Him face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend–by faith we have seen God, but,
Beloved, what I cannot understand is that we see so little of Him! Do
you ever find yourself living all day without God? Not perhaps
absolutely so, for you would not like to go to business without a
little prayer in the morning. But do you not sometimes get through that
morning's prayer without seeing God at all?
I mean, is it not just the form of kneeling down, and saying good words
and getting up again? And all through the day, have you not lived away
from God? This is a strange world to live in. There are not many things
to make one happy, and yet somehow we forget the very things that could
give us happiness and keep our eyes upon the frivolous cares and
teasing troubles which distract us. So we even close the night–no
taste of His love, no kiss of His lips that is better than wine. And
our evening prayer–poor moaning it is, hardly a prayer.
I fear it is possible to live not only days, but months at this dying
rate! And it is horrible living, such horrible living that I would
infinitely prefer to be locked up in the moldiest dungeon in which a
man of God ever rotted and have the Lord's Presence, than I would care
to live in the noblest palace in which a sinner ever sported himself
without God. After all, that is it which makes life–life is the
enjoyment of the Presence of God! It is not so with the worldling–he
can live without God, like the swine, who, being contented with their
husks, lie down and sleep and wake again to feed. But the Christian
cannot live on husks–he has a stomach above them–and if he does not
get his God he will be miserable.
God has ordained it so that a spiritual man is wretched without the
love of God in his heart. If you and I want present happiness without
God, we had better be sinners outright and live upon this world than
try to be happy in religion without communion with Jesus. Present
happiness for a genuine Christian in the absence of Christ is an
absolute impossibility! We must have God or we are, of all men, most
miserable.
Suppose that in this year 1867 we were, at any rate, filled with the
desire to have our eyes always upon God from the beginning of the year
to the end of the year–to be always conscious that He sees us, to be
always sensible of His Presence–more than that, to be always longing
to be obedient to His commands, always desiring to win souls for His
dear Son from the beginning of the year to the end of the year? What a
happy thing this would be! If we could abide in a spirit of
prayerfulness or thankfulness, devout, consecrated, loving, tender, it
would be a high thing to attain unto.
Brethren, we believe in a great God who is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above what we ask or even think. Why not expect great things
from Him? I think of this blessing and I dare to ask for it–surely,
then, He is able to give it. Do not let us stand back because of
unbelief! Let us ask that as God's eyes will be upon us, our eyes may
be upon Him. What a blessed meeting of eyes when the Lord looks us full
in the face and we look at Him through the Mediator Christ Jesus, and
the Lord declares, "I love you," and we answer, "We also love You, O
our God!" Oh that we may be in harmony with the Lord our God and find
ourselves drawn upwards and bound to Him!
May the Lord be the Sun, and we the dewdrops which sparkle in His rays
and are exhaled and drawn aloft by the heat of His love! May God look
down from Heaven and we look up to Heaven, and both of us be happy in
the sight of each other, delighting and rejoicing in mutual affection!
This is what communion means. I have taken a long while to bring it to
that one word, but that is what it means–
"Daily communion let me prove With You, blest Object of my love." That
was Toplady's desire, but I am afraid if I would express my own
experience I must close with the other two of the verses where Toplady
says–
"But oh, for this no strength have I, My strength is at Your feet to
lie."
III. In the third place, we will imagine that WE BLOT THE TEXT OUT
ALTOGETHER. Not that we can blot it
out or would do so if we could, but we are to suppose that it is
blotted out to imagine that you and I have to live all the year without
the eyes of God upon us–not finding a moment from the beginning of the
year to the end of the year in which we perceive the Lord to be caring
for us or to be waiting to be gracious to us. Imagine that there is
none to whom we may appeal beyond our own fellow creatures for help. Oh
miserable supposition!
We have come to the opening of the year, and we have to get through it
somehow. We must stumble through January, go muddling through the
winter, groaning through the spring, sweating through the summer,
fainting through the autumn, and groveling on to another Christmas, and
no God to help us! No prayer when God is gone, no promise when God is
no more. There could be no promise, no spiritual succor, no comfort, no
help for us if there were no God! I will suppose this to be the case
with any one of us here.
But I hear you cry out, "Imagine not such a thing, for I should be like
an orphan child without a father! I should be helpless–a tree with no
water to its roots." But I will suppose this is the case of you
sinners. You know you have been living for 20, or 30, or 40 years
without God, without prayer, without trust, without hope–yet I should
not wonder
that if I were solemnly to tell you that God would not let you pray
during the next year, and would not help you if you did pray–I should
not wonder if you were greatly startled at it! Though I believe that
the Lord will hear you from the beginning of the year to the end of the
year. Though I believe that He will watch over you and bless you if you
seek Him, yet I fear that the most of you are despising His care,
living without fellowship with Him, and so you are without God, without
Christ, without hope, and will be so from the beginning of the year to
the end of the year.
There is a story told of a most eccentric minister, that walking out
one morning he saw a man going to work and said to him, "What a lovely
morning! How grateful we ought to be to God for all His mercies!" The
man said he did not know much about it. "Why," said the minister, "I
suppose you always pray to God for your wife and family–for your
children–don't you?" "No," said he, "I do not know that I do." "What,"
said the minister, "do you never pray?" "No." "Then I will give you
half-a-crown, if you will promise me you never will as long as ever you
live." "Oh," said he, "I shall be very glad of half-a-crown to get me a
drop of beer."
He took the half-crown and promised never to pray as long as he lived.
He went to his work, and when he had been digging for a little while,
he thought to himself, "That's a strange thing I have done this
morning–a very strange thing–I've taken money and promised never to
pray as long as I live." He thought it over, and it made him feel
wretched. He went home to his wife and told her of it. "Well, John,"
she said, "you may depend upon it, it was the devil! You've sold
yourself to the devil for half-a-crown." This so bowed the poor wretch
down that he did not know what to do with himself! This was all he
thought about–that he had sold himself to the devil for money–and
would soon be carried off to Hell.
He commenced attending places of worship, conscious that it was of no
use, for he had sold himself to the devil. He became really ill, bodily
ill, through the fear and trembling which had come upon him. One night
he recognized in the preacher the very man who had given him the
half-crown, and probably the preacher recognized him, for the text was,
"What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul?" The preacher remarked that he knew a man who had sold
his soul for half-a-crown. The poor man rushed forward and said, "Take
it back! Take it back!" "You said you would never pray," said the
minister, "if I gave you half-a-crown! Do you now want to pray?" "Oh
yes, I would give the world to be allowed to pray."
That man was a great fool to sell his soul for half-a-crown! But some
of you are a great deal bigger fools, for you never had the half-crown
and yet you still do not pray! And I dare say you never will, but will
go down to Hell never having sought God. Perhaps if I could make this
text negative, and say to you, "the eyes of God will not be upon you
from the beginning of this year to the end of the year, and God will
not hear and bless you," it might alarm and awaken you.
But though I suggest the thought, I would rather you say, "Oh let not
such a curse rest upon me, for I may die this year, and I may die this
day. O God, hear me now!" Ah, dear Hearer, if such a desire is in your
heart the Lord will hear you and bless you with His salvation.
III. Let us close with USING THE TEXT. The way to use it is this. If
the eyes of the Lord will be upon us His people from the beginning of
the year to the end of the year, what shall we do? Why, let us be as
happy as we can during this year! You have your trials and troubles to
come–do not expect that you will be free from them. The devil is not
dead, and sparks still fly upward. Herein is your joy–the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will never leave you nor forsake you.
Up with your standard now and march on boldly!
In the name of the Lord set up your banner and begin to sing! Away with
carking care–God cares for us! The sparrows are fed, and shall not the
children be? The lilies bloom, and shall not the saints be clothed? Let
us roll all our burdens upon the Burden-Bearer. You will have enough to
care for if you care for His cause as you should. Do not spoil your
power to care for God by caring for yourself. This year let your motto
be, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you."
By anxious thought you cannot add a cubit to your stature, nor turn one
hair white or black! Take, then, no anxious thought for the morrow, for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Lean upon your
God and remember His promise that as your day is so shall your strength
be. "I would have you," says the Apostle, "I would have you without
carefulness." He does not mean, I would have you without economy,
without prudence and without discretion,
but he means he would have you without fretfulness, without distrustful
care. He would have you be without care for yourself, because the
Lord's eyes will be upon you!
Further, dear Friends, I would have you use the text by the way of
seeking greater blessings and richer mercies than you have ever
enjoyed. Blessed be God for His merciful kindness towards this Church.
His loving kindnesses have been very many! His favors new every morning
and fresh every evening–but we need more! Let us not be content with a
February blessing, though that is generally the month in which we have
had our refreshing. Let us seek to get a blessing to-day! I hope you
will get it this afternoon in the Sunday school, you workers there. And
I hope you will have it in the senior classes from the beginning of the
year to the end of the year. Let there be no dullness, lethargy, and
lukewarmness in the classes this afternoon!
The Brother who has to address the school, will, I hope, speak to you
with fervor and earnestness. There must be no coldness there. And I
hope you who are preaching in the street, if it is possible in such
weather, or going from house to house with tracts, or doing anything
else, will have a blessing on this first Sunday of the year! But then,
shall we grow cold next Sunday? Not at all! It is from the beginning of
the year to the end of the year! Shall we endeavor to get up a little
excitement and have a revival for five or six weeks? No, blessed be
God, we must have it from the beginning of the year to the end of the
year!
While we have a spring which never grows dry, why should the pitcher
ever be empty? Surely gratitude can find us fuel enough in the forests
of memory to keep the fire of love always flaming. Why should we be
weary when the glorious prize is worthy of our constant exertions, when
the great crowd of witnesses hold us in full survey? May our Lord, by
His Spirit bring you and me to a high pitch ofprayerfulness, and then
let us continue in prayer from the beginning of the year to the end of
the year!
May God bring you and me to a high degree of generosity, and then may
we be always giving from the beginning of the year to the end of the
year every week, from the first to the last, always laying by in store
as God has prospered us for His cause. May we be always active, always
industrious, always hopeful, always spiritual, always heavenly, and
always raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus!
So may our gracious God deal with us from the beginning of the year to
the end of the year through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Cheering Words and Solemn Warnings
A sermon